Former publican jailed for £85,000 tax evasion

A former publican from West Sussex who evaded £85,000 in VAT and Corporation Tax has been sentenced to 18 months in prison following an investigation by HMRC.

Christopher Humphrey, 53, of Worthing, West Sussex, lowered his daily till takings and provided false and inaccurate information to his accountants, according to HMRC.

In addition, he lied about the volume of stock purchased during his time as landlord of the Tudor Tavern in East Preston in an attempt to disguise the amount he was actually selling.

Assistant director of the Fraud Investigation Service at HMRC said: “Christopher Humphrey lied about his true takings to pay less tax, which gave him an unfair advantage over business competitors. Our message is clear – it is simply not acceptable to steal from the tax system and honest UK taxpayers.”

“HMRC will continue to pursue those criminals who attack the tax system and we ask anyone with information about suspected tax fraud to contact our Fraud Hotline on 0800 788 887″.

According to HMRC, Humphrey committed the fraud between August 2011 and June 2015 and was uncovered by HMRC’s Cash Taskforce and subsequently referred for criminal investigation.

Following the investigation, it was found that Humphrey evaded a total of £53,464 in VAT and £31,128 in Corporation Tax.

He was arrested by HMRC investigators in August 2015 and pleaded guilty at Wood Green Crown Court on 28 November 2017. He was then jailed for 18 months on 14 December for cheating public revenue of VAT between August 2011 and June 2015 and for committing the same offence for Corporation Tax between August 2011 and November 2014.

Humphrey has been disqualified from holding company directorships for three years.

Commenting on his sentence, His Honour Judge Lucas QC, said: “You ran a public house in a manner I can only describe as wholly fraudulent. It is clear that not only were you cheating the public revenue but also deceiving your employers by purchasing stock elsewhere”.